The Break

Content Warning: This novel contains graphic scenes of sexual and physical violence, along with descriptions of addiction, self-harm, and racist language against Indigenous people.

The narrator describes “the Break,” (named by Stella) as a piece of land with neighborhoods surrounding it, originally built for Eastern European immigrants along the Red River. The Break lies within the hydro land with houses nestled between hydro towers. In the 1960s, Indigenous people began moving into them once they could leave reservations. Stella lives here with her daughter, Mattie, and the surrounding area around the Break is occupied by working-class people. The narrator depicts a cold, wintery night as snow begins to fall, covering the land and creating a buzzing sound when the snowflakes hit the wires of the hydro towers.

In the early morning, Stella sits at her kitchen table with police officers, Christie and (Tommy) Scott, as she recounts what she believes was a sexual assault that occurred at the Break. Having witnessed the violent scene from her window, Stella waited for four hours for the police to arrive to take her statement. However, they tell her that she saw a drunken fight due to the unlikeliness of a rape occurring outside in the middle of winter; they say that her view from the window is too far to accurately see what occurred.